


Teach A Girl To Fish And She'll Eat Forever

by Hino



Category: Pyre (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Trace amounts of other Nightwings, Written for the SGG2018 Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 02:41:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17153768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hino/pseuds/Hino
Summary: Ti'zo takes the Moontouched Girl to fish.She's very good.





	Teach A Girl To Fish And She'll Eat Forever

**Author's Note:**

> I accidentally became overwhelmed with like everything so this isn't too amazing.  
> I'm so very sorry.

The Sea of Solis was calm. Off in the distance, the Deathless Tempest rolled and roared but here, on the banks of the Hulk of Ores, the water was still as glass. Overhead, the birds sat and watched as the Blackwagon rolled to a stop, settling down for the night.

As the wagon dropped its ramp, the Moontouched Girl sprung to her feet. She had been sitting down for almost an hour, after Jodariel and Volfred had kindly asked that she stop pacing the wagon. It had been hard, and she had ended up whittling a small depiction of the Scribe Jomuer Many-Mane into the table in her attempts to stay seated, but she had done it and she was proud.  
"Ti'zo! Ti'zo, we have landed, I think!" Her excitement radiated like an aura, so intense that even Sandra could feel it within the Beyonder Crystal. "Oh I am so excited! Ti'zo said he would teach me to fish! I wonder, will I fish in the water? Or with the rod? Like Hedwyn?"

"Easy," Hedwyn soothed, gently placing a hand atop her fluffy hair. It was soft to touch and somehow, not knotty at all. Hedwyn had no idea how it worked, and he thought privately that her hair may even defy the knowledge of the Scribes themselves. "We haven't even unpacked yet. Can you wait until we're ready?"

She turned, face slightly confused. "But you said, when we touch down, I was allowed to fish?"

 

Hedwyn stuttered, trying to explain that there was more to it, and he didn't exactly mean the second they touched down, but stopped himself as Jodariel set a hand on his shoulder. "Little One, you should get ready. Ti'zo seems anxious to get started."

Jodariel pointed over to Ti'zo's nest, and the Moontouched Girl wasted no time leaping up to it. She moved with a strange grace, able to leap to the top of the ladder that rested against the Drive Imp's hideout without any effort at all. Ti'zo's nest was right beside it, and since it had been modified to hang by a hook (for all the times the Triumvirates partied late into the night with the wagon door open), which let the girl turn it to face her.

"Are you ready? Ooh, I think I am ready to go fishing!" The ladder shook as the Moontouched Girl jumped up and down. "There are many things we can see in the water! Fish and crab and Wyrms!"

Ti'zo chirped, and the girl laughed. "No, we will not eat the Wyrms! Sir Gilman, he would be upset? He would not like to eat Wyrm!"

Sir Gilman, who was in earshot when this was said, tried to raise his voice about how Harps had been eating his kind for centuries and how they had been fighting against it, but the Reader quickly placed a hand over his mouth. It went unnoticed by the Moontouched Girl as she leapt from the ladder onto the floor, dashing past everyone and out the door, arms in the air joyously. Ti'zo followed behind, less excited but still amused as he fluttered out of the Blackwagon and onto the sand.

As the duo crossed the threshold, there was silence. Hedwyn cleared his throat, still somewhat off-balance by the fact he'd had his words thrown back at him. "So uh, I guess we'll be having fish tonight?"

The Reader said nothing, but ran straight for where the spices were stored, and Hedwyn followed with a shake of his head, motioning for the others to follow.

 

Outside the Blackwagon the sun shone brilliantly, highlighting the calm waves and the softness of the beach sand. For a moment, the Moontouched Girl forgot all about her fishing, enthralled by what a beautiful day it was. "Oh the Scribes, they gave us a pretty day! What a magnificent sun, it shines, oh it shines so brightly! I think, it is beautiful? Oh it is as pretty as that woman, the one on the Mountain Alodiel!"

A soft laugh made her pause. Standing in the shade of the Blackwagon was Tariq, who was scratching Ti'zo at the base of his horn, making him do something akin to purring. "She will be very flattered to hear that."

The Moontouched Girl gasped, dashing over to Tariq. "Oh I am very happy! The lady is very nice, and reminds me of the sun? She is warm and friendly and nice and very lovely!"

"To hear you call her 'friendly' is interesting." He was smirking, most likely something he had picked up over his hundreds of years with the Nightwings. "You have forgotten your rod. Here." He held out the fishing rod and the girl took it from him gingerly, almost in awe. "Is something amiss?"

"I had forgotten that we would need a rod, I did! I had thought I could catch like Ti'zo, but my claws are not very sharp! Fish are too slippery, but sometimes I can catch them with my hands! Only the big ones though."

At the idea of the Moontouched Girl catching fish, Ti'zo laughed, chirping happily as he hopped over to the shoulder of his apprentice fisherman. "Skree-hoo-skra!"

"Thank you. Now, you best be going. I recall the best time to fish in the water here being when the sun reaches the midpoint." Tariq pointed upwards, and the Moontouched Girl lifted her gaze to follow, making sure to shade her eyes as the Scribes had told her. The sun was sitting perfectly in the sky, and without a moment to spare for farewells, the Moontouched Girl sprinted away, rod clutched in her hands as Ti'zo gave directions, guiding her to the perfect fishing spot.

 

The spot itself wasn't too far away from the Blackwagon. Close enough that Jodariel would not worry, but far enough that the ruckus of setting up camp would not distract any of the fish. With a nimbleness that could only belong to her, the Moontouched Girl leapt up onto a rock and sat down, positioned perfectly in the shade of some nearby trees.

"This is so exciting! I only caught fish sometimes, you see, and never with a rod! They were too fast, oh so fast, and the water? It makes you move so slow!"

"Skree-haw," Ti'zo sighed in agreement. He always had to get a running start to keep the momentum up, and given how small he was, he could easily avoid being slowed down by the water tension. The Moontouched Girl? Not so much. 

A frown crossed the girl's lips. "The water makes us slow and that is sad. Oh! What if we were like fish?"

Ti'zo raised an eyebrow as he hopped from her shoulder onto the rock they'd call their home for a good few hours. "Skroom... Skree-haa-hoom."

"Being a fish would be sad, if I could not travel with everyone." Her frown was persistent, but it eased up as Ti'zo nuzzled against her leg. "Ah, Thank you Ti'zo."

He chirped again, remaining in place for a moment until he felt that the girl was going to be okay if he moved. "Skraah!" he cried, scuttling across the rocks in search of bait for the Moontouched Girl to use.

"Ah! Bait will be helpful! It will, I think, help the fish come to me? It will trick them, that is what the Scribes tell me." Her gaze had been on Ti'zo, but all at once she tensed, then relaxed, eyes closed and head tilted as if she was eagerly trying to understand something. "Oh, I see. I understand it, I think I do. Thank you Underking Ores, I think I understand."

Ti'zo chirped, claws full of small worms that would be useful as bait. He turned, ready to flutter back to his friend when he watched her cast the baitless hook into the water. It broke the surface with a soft 'plop' and sunk quickly, until it had reached as far as it would go, line tense.

 

From her perch on the rock, the Moontouched Girl could see the rest of the Nightwings. Hedwyn was preparing something to eat, while the rest of their companions had spread themselves between erecting some shade to relax under, counting stock, and learning how to read. Once, the Moontouched Girl had tried to learn, but the words swam in front of her eyes, letters jumbling around. It made the task hard, and made her head hurt.

"Can you read Ti'zo? I think that you would be very clever." The Moontouched Girl gave her rod a gentle tug, just as Ti'zo, and the Underking had recommended. Ti'zo began to coo and chirp, explaining that while his Great-Grandfather had learnt how to write and read, he hadn't quite picked it up. Partway through listing some of the words he could in fact read, the Moontouched Girl squealed, rocketing forward and landing on her stomach as the rod in her hands tried to violently pull her down from her rocky seat.

"Scra-HAAAAAAAA?" Ti'zo hopped over to the Moontouched Girl, taking little leaps from rock to rock as he moved towards her perch.

"I think I've caught something but-" Another tug on the end of the line pulled he Moontouched Girl forward, and she squeaked, pushing herself onto her knees, and then onto her backside. "-Ooh, it is very stubborn. I just want to catch it, I do. Oh, what do I do, Ti'zo? I cannot fish well, and this fish it feels very strong!"

Ti'zo fluttered over to the rod, gripping it tight with his talons and flapping his little wings as hard as he could in some attempt to help reel in whatever she'd caught. 

 

"Are you having fun over there?" Pamitha called from atop the Blackwagon. She'd gone up to stretch her wings a bit, and keep out of Jodariel's way. "It seems like you're getting into the swing of things, my dear."

The Moontouched Girl looked up with surprise, but she grinned, waving to the Harp. "I think I've caught something very big, oh yes! I think-" Her eyes glazed over slightly, and Pamitha raised an eyebrow.

"Are you alright, darling?" she called, with just the softest hint of concern. It gained the attention of the other Nightwings, who all turned to look at the Moontouched Girl and Ti'zo, who was still pulling on the fishing rod.

"You want to help me?" The Moontouched Girl spoke to the empty air, gaze nowhere and yet oddly focused. "Oh yes! Yes, if you will, then I would say yes, yes please."

Ti'zo glanced up in confusion, finding the Moontouched Girl looking down at him with a fond smile. She giggled, looking upwards a moment later, focused and listening. She braced her legs, tightened her grip, and finally lowered her gaze to watch where the line was cutting through the water. "Are you ready, Ti'zo? We are pulling on three! Oh, fishing is so- Oh, we've started counting? Three!"

 

The Moontouched Girl pulled with far more power than she ought to have had. Ti'zo looked up, and for a moment he thought he saw the curled horns of Soliam Murr, but the sun's glare caught his eye, and the shape vanished. With a thunderous crash, the surface of the water broke, and Ti'zo let out a high pitched screech at the large beast currently arcing through the air.

It was larger than anything the Nightwings had encountered so far. Even Volfred was slack-jawed, watching as the tiny Moontouched Girl reeled in a creature that could have been classified as a small Titan Beast.

Although it seemed like the world had gone into slow motion, it could not stay there forever. Gravity began to work its magic, and the strange beast crashed onto the sand beside the Moontouched Girl's perch, flopping around and kicking up a fine cloud of debris.

"Ti'zo, I did it! I learnt how to fish! Did I do it right? Oh I hope that I did, oh I do."

 

Ti'zo looked from the huge beast, which was now being surrounded by the Nightwings, back to the Moontouched Girl, who was smiling brightly, rivaling the sun overhead.

"Skraa!"

"Thank you Ti'zo!"


End file.
